Need input on grow box build

So i am 100% new to this i am starting with autos as i hear they are almost near impossible to kill. I am some what of a basic green thumb and have basic knowledge on growing plants.

The plan--
- indoor stealth op
- CFL lighting
- custom built grow box
- 1 vortex 4" 177cfm fan for cooling and ventilation. Thanks to (GoldD) for all your help on choosing a fan.
- medium- unsure thinking soil mixture
Depending on the accessability of nutrients and other mediums

The strains- i have 10 stains (from seed) available to grow only going to start with three

The starting three will be.
- Auto Critical cheese by dinafem
- Auto Blue Diesel by advanced
- Auto cheese berry by 00 seeds

The grow box
- Inside dimensions being reconsidered at this time original thoughts were 3x3
- Height 5'
- front swing hinged double door.
- adjustable light table to be able to change lights quickly.

Lighting- thinking 300w of cfls

Vegging- 6500k 300 watts 3-4 inches above tops
Flowering-2700k 400 watts 3-4 inches from tops plus side lighting

Considering a scrog

I just need input
Anything that seems like it wont work

Sounds good to me. Just know that if you decide to grow photoperiod plants in the future, you will need light traps for those PC fans. But for auto's it's fine.

Thanks i think im going to go with a double walled box so i will have vent holes placed on the out side so no light will be able to get in. What do you think about the lighting?

I won't be doing anything half assed either there will be no exposed wiring except running down to the light table but i may have a solution for that no exposed ducting and possibly Mylar the whole interior.

Thinking 3 Tupperware boxes with holes cut about 6 inches in diameter in lids for containing my growing medium.

You need fans that can vent and pull air from the outside, and keep you in negative air pressure. You need a fan that can pull air through a filter. PC fans will be the same as having no fans, you have 45 square feet to cool, and exchange air and those PC fans might move 1 square foot each. You must get a real fan, or your box will not work, plain and simple. I would do a lot more research if I were you.

Thanks for the input I have been researching as well and might end up going with 4 10 inch fans possibly or something close to that. And I have yet to build the box so all the input before hand is very helpful.

I grow in a 20 inch deep x 4 ft wide x 6 ft tall stealth cab, 43 sq feet, I use a 180 cfm 4 inch vortex fan to suck air in through a carbon filter, using a carbon filter cuts the power of the fan by 2/3's so it is really the minimum you can use in this size space. Unless you don't care about the smell. Basically your 2 choices are a squirrel cage fan or a vortex, computer fans of any size are useless outside of a 4 sq foot computer case or similar size.

Heat is a huge issue for plants. Heat is part of the environment in your cab. Take everyone's advice, good ventilation is key, all those lights won't do anything. I've seen good results from 150 watt of CFL Ounce plants in prob 1/3 less space. Good luck.

The next cab is going to vent the light heat separate. Just couldnt get the temps down with 160 watt CFL in a 2x2x3 space using pc fans and a 6" duct booster. A friend of mine designed his cbetter than mine and with proper set up and less fans does way better with his heat under control and greatly affects his yields

So I should make an investment in a quality fan. And possibly more cfls or should I scrap the cfls and go with hps/mh?

greenforlife said:

The next cab is going to vent the light heat separate. Just couldnt get the temps down with 160 watt CFL in a 2x2x3 space using pc fans and a 6" duct booster. A friend of mine designed his cbetter than mine and with proper set up and less fans does way better with his heat under control and greatly affects his yields

Click to expand...

I have a separate fan for air exchange/Filter and one for my light (the light fan is on a motor speed controller, so I only run it at about 1/2 speed). My cab temps never get more than 5 degrees above room temp this way and if I wanted to I could sit my light 2-3 inches off the tops of my plants with out worrying about heat from the light. I highly recommend going this route green.

Cannbizzle said:

So I should make an investment in a quality fan. And possibly more cfls or should I scrap the cfls and go with hps/mh?

Click to expand...

With only 5 feet of over head you're probably better off with the cfl's, but I would always go with a digital ballast and HPS/MH if given the choice. So if you can go taller you'd get better light coverage with a HPS. I cannot stress enough the need to have good ventilation and control of the heat in your box, so yes I would absolutely invest in a real growers fan. http://www.htgsupply.com/ I bought all my hardware here great selection and great prices, and no tax.

Which type of fan would you think centrifugal or inline?

I have two 4 inch Vortex inline fans, they don't sell them at HTG anymore I see, but between the two, inline is supposed to be quieter. Make sure you get a flange for it as well, whatever kind you decide to get.

Say if I start a scrog with photoperiod plants will 5 feet be enough for good growth ? Think I have decided on getting a 4" inline fan That is rated at 170cfm. I'll stick with the cfls if they seem to be no ideal I will switch to a digital ballast with 400w hps/mh.

With only 5 feet of head room you would pretty much have to scrog, I have 6 feet of head room and I lst'ed my last grow instead of scrogging, and it over grew my space which ruined about 90% of plant due to mold, caused by bad air circulation. Now I'm sure someone who is well versed in LST would have had no trouble, I did and won't be using LST other than training my plants under my scrog screen. Here's a great thread that a lot of people on here refer to for growing, and the one that got me started https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/344359-pineapple-express-g13-labs-seed.html . Now since you're new, you're probably not aware that you should be thanking me for my help by giving me +rep, it's the little star under my avatar pic, next to journal this post.

Doesnt show up on my mobile. Anyhow when I get a chance too I will do it forsure. On another note I took the plunge and purchased a 4" inline vortex powerfan. Light controller and fan speed controller.

You won't need a fan speed motor controller with just 1, I use that for my air cooled light and don't need it to run anywhere near full speed to keep my light cool. I run my air exchange/Filter fan 24/7 full speed throughout the grow, you don't want stagnant air or loss of negative pressure, what you want is that air to be continually renewed. This helps with two things, getting out the heat and bringing in fresh air and Co2. What you do need is a filter, growing weed has an incredibly strong and overwhelming smell, I use a carbon filter and one Ona odor neutralizer in my cab and one on top of my cab, and my weed isn't even one of the smellier strains but this makes it undetectable. I have friends and family over, workmen you name it, and just keep the door of my office closed and nobody suspects a thing. The only reason I keep them out of the office is the sound of the fans, not the smell. But when necessary I can just hit a switch, kill the power for everything and not worry about either sound or smell. Also what do you mean by a light controller? Do you mean a Timer?

What I got for I guess you would call it a timer. It is a programmable light switch for household use as I know electrical it will be no problem for me to wire in. it can handle 1800w of power running thru it. I am then going to have it connected to 2 power outlets to control the lights. The fan speed controller will be wired the exact same way to it's own 2 outlets even if it has to run all the time at max it's there if I invest in another fan.